MANILA, Philippines — Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients who can no longer be admitted in packed Metro Manila hospitals can instead be admitted in provincial hospitals, a lawmaker proposed Friday.
ACT-CIS party-list Rep. Niña Taduran made the remark after hearing stories of some severely ill patients waiting in the emergency room for days since rooms are already occupied by other COVID-19 patients.
“Kung wala nang available rooms sa hospitals sa Metro Manila, bakit hindi natin dalhin ang mga pasyente sa ospital sa labas ng NCR? Gamitin ang One Hospital system ng DOH para malaman kung saan puwedeng dalhin ang mga pasyente,” Taduran said in a statement.
(If there are no available rooms in hospitals in Metro Manila, then why not bring the patients to hospitals outside NCR? Let us use the One Hospital system of the DOH to know where we can bring the patients.)
The lawmaker said that adding COVID beds but without additional healthcare workers cannot address the problem.
“I have heard of severely ill patients waiting in the emergency room for days because COVID rooms or the ICU are full. Some are even forced to wait at home even if they need to be attended to in a hospital,” Taduran said.
“Ang iba nga raw, kung walang kakilala sa ospital, hindi talaga maipapasok kahit sa emergency room,” she added.
(In other cases, if you do not know someone or have connection in the hospital, you really won’t be admitted even just in the emergency room.)
Taduran sought the cooperation of heads of local government units with hospitals where the COVID-19 patients could be admitted.
“I hope the DOH will do something about this ASAP. Find more sources for medicines like Tocilizumab which hospitals are running out of. Likewise, DOH should aggressively promote the drive for blood donation,” Taduran said.
Several hospitals in Metro Manila have announced full capacity due to the surge of COVID-19 patients being admitted.